Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Nancy Kassebaum Baker, Republican Kansas Senator from 1978 until 1997, delivers a speech Tuesday night at the Dole Institute of Politics. Baker was guest speaker for the Emily Taylor and Marilyn Stokstad Women's Leadership Lecture. Baker was born in Topeka and graduated from KU in 1954.
Nancy Kassebaum Baker downplayed her role as the first female U.S. Senator and said that because women continued to undertake new political roles, her own achievement was just a first step.
The Topeka native began her term in the Senate in 1978 and served for 19 years. She spoke as the honored guest of the Emily Taylor and Marilyn Stokstad Women’s Leadership Lecture at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics Tuesday night and said that the women in leadership roles had always held onto their foundations in community and care.
“Nancy Pelosi didn’t get to be the Speaker of the House by batting her eyes,” she said.
She said women have continued to gain new roles in the last 15 years by becoming the Speaker of the House, the Secretary of State and a front-runner in the upcoming presidential election.
“The good thing is, it’s no longer a big deal,” Kassebaum Baker said.
She said her mother was the biggest influence on her decision to enter into a life of politics, even though her father, Alfred “Alf” Landon, was a former Kansas governor.
“It was mother who encouraged me, who really didn’t even care for politics,” she said.
Before her lecture, Kassebaum Baker ate dinner with guests, including some representatives of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, of which she had been a member while at the University of Kansas.
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She is a down-to-earth, open-minded woman who has done so much.
-Laurel Proulx, president of Kappa Alpha Theta
Laurel Proulx, president of Kappa Alpha Theta, said she met Kassebaum Baker for the first time Tuesday, but it felt like she was sitting at a table with an old friend.
“She is a down-to-earth, open-minded woman who has done so much,” Proulx said.
Kassebaum Baker also said Kansas women always had a pioneering spirit, from the women who helped with work on farms to Carry Nation, a Kansan who destroyed taverns in the early 1900s to protest against the sale of alcohol.
Kassebaum Baker said it was important today that politics become more balanced and that politicians regain the trust of the nation.
Although more than 50 years removed from her own time in college, Kassebaum Baker said she continued to care about younger generations and she hoped to help young women realize the opportunities they had open for them.
Proulx, Liberty, Mo., sophomore, said Kassebaum Baker spoke with her about her future after college and gave her insight into what she could become.
“I’m pleased to know that there are leaders of her capacity who are still down to their roots,” Proulx said.
Kansan staff writer Tyler Harbert can be contacted at tharbert@kansan.com.
— Edited by James Pinick
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Female senator discusses gender roles
You said twice that Ms. Kassabaum was the first female senator. I believe it is correct to say that she was the first female senator to represent Kansas. Here is a clip from www.wic.org.>-
- Posted by jrmerrill on March 7, 2007 at 12:40 p.m.
- permalink
- suggest removal
Hattie Caraway of Arkansas first appointed in 1932 was, in 1933, the first woman elected to the United States Senate. Senator Margaret Chase Smith served Maine for 24 years (1949-73). Others were Maurine Neuberger of Oregon, Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas, Paula Hawkins of Florida, and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.
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